ajchien
Well-known member
Anyone know what the difference is between the Ryobi green p117 and the black p118 chargers are? 
Difference between ryobi p117 and p118 chargers?
- Thread starter ajchien
- Start date
drivesitfar
Well-known member
AJ: the black ones are the older slower ones and not sure they will charge the newer lithium batteries. the yellowish green ones are the newer ones made for quicker charging of the newer lithium batteries. i think some of the owners had issues with the first yellowish ones when they came out so there was and maybe still is a recall on those.
I've never had any issues with either and maybe because i don't leave my batteries on there for much longer than it takes to do a full charge. I've seen some guys leave there spare batteries on their chargers all the time which i would think causes the issues. the orangish Ryobi batteries they first came out with didn't hold a charge very long and most went dead after a while, but the new lithium batteries seem to be holding their charge for weeks and months after charging them.
I've never had any issues with either and maybe because i don't leave my batteries on there for much longer than it takes to do a full charge. I've seen some guys leave there spare batteries on their chargers all the time which i would think causes the issues. the orangish Ryobi batteries they first came out with didn't hold a charge very long and most went dead after a while, but the new lithium batteries seem to be holding their charge for weeks and months after charging them.
LB-1911
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Anyone know what the difference is between the Ryobi green p117 and the black p118 chargers are?
P117: 18 V DUAL CHEMISTRY BATTERY CHARGER
http://manuals.ryobitools.com/documents/2490
P118: 18V DUAL CHEMISTRY BATTERY CHARGER
http://manuals.ryobitools.com/documents/2822
bcradio
Well-known member
P117: 18 V DUAL CHEMISTRY BATTERY CHARGER
http://manuals.ryobitools.com/documents/2490
P118: 18V DUAL CHEMISTRY BATTERY CHARGER
http://manuals.ryobitools.com/documents/2822
Looks like the space in the name is the difference
pauls_workshop
Well-known member
The old slow black ones are the best! Charging slowly is much better on the batteries than charging fast! It just takes longer! I love the black slow ones!! P118 is champion! - Paul
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drivesitfar
Well-known member
Paul: have you used the old black chargers to charge your new lithium batteries? with as many lithium batteries as i own now i was thinking of giving away the black chargers, but if they work for the new batteries and are actually better slow is ok with me if they extend the life of my newer batteries.
pauls_workshop
Well-known member
P118 are the newer black ones with the intellisense feature on them that are slow chargers and work with lithium plus or any of the Ryobi lineup. that is my favorite! I brought back a formerly dead lithium using this charger that the old yellow fast charger (the one recalled) proclaimed dead and would not charge! The black P118 is the only one I ever want or need! It is my champion! (I don't know if the newer yellow high speed charger is bad in any way or worse in any way than the black p118, I just am sticking with my champion). - Paul
ptgarcia
Well-known member
Another bump.....
I'd like to know, too.
I'd like to know, too.
Packard V8
Well-known member
Yes, No, Maybe. Over the years, whatever money was saved in the initial purchase of Ryobi versus Milwaukee, et al, has been offset by the frustration of the orange battery short life and then the black/yellow chargers and batteries randomly dying and the tools randomly dying. The warranties have been sometimes good, sometimes frustrating and sometimes worthless.
At present, I have a 40-volt battery and its charger going into the trash. Ryobi replaced them once under warranty, but the replacements died.
I keep three 40-volt batteries and chargers going because it's always less expensive to buy another tool with battery and charger than to buy the battery and charger individually.
A bit OT, but one time Home Depot wouldn't replace just a failed battery; they insisted I bring in the complete system and exchange it for a new one. So now, I've got two hedge trimmers; probably a good thing as the first one eventually let out the magic smoke.
Bottom line - buy the good stuff from the get-go.
jack vines
At present, I have a 40-volt battery and its charger going into the trash. Ryobi replaced them once under warranty, but the replacements died.
I keep three 40-volt batteries and chargers going because it's always less expensive to buy another tool with battery and charger than to buy the battery and charger individually.
A bit OT, but one time Home Depot wouldn't replace just a failed battery; they insisted I bring in the complete system and exchange it for a new one. So now, I've got two hedge trimmers; probably a good thing as the first one eventually let out the magic smoke.
Bottom line - buy the good stuff from the get-go.
jack vines
A re-bump of a bump for a back from the dead thread by a new member.
Well, no longer a member, bye spammer.
Well, no longer a member, bye spammer.
Sorry to hear of your bad luck, but that hasn't been my experience at all. Then again I recognize a tool's limitations and do not use them all day, every day in a trade, and only have 18V, and plenty of (other brands') corded tools for my most demanding tasks.
I have the P118 and while people are calling it slow, it is still a rapid charger, just not AS fast. I've seen nothing that lead me to believe it won't charge all their new batteries and that makes sense because Ryobi puts all battery management in the battery.
The problem with the Ryobi orange NiCd batteries was not Ryobi specific, rather common in that era, the consumer ignorance about the limitations of NiCd that would kill NiCd of any brand when the user kept trying to use the tool past when the nearly drained battery resulted in the weakest cell dropping to 0V and then reverse charging.
NiCd tools from most brands, did not have a low voltage cutoff like Li-Ion because there wasn't as much of a safety issue with damaging them, plus custom ICs for this duty became more prevalent and less expensive.
I've no regrets from buying any of my Ryobi 18V tools but I wouldn't get their lower tier stuff that's a few generations old and bundled in some of their combo kits.
Packard V8
Well-known member
Agree, I've had no problems thus far with the Ryobi LiOn 18-volt, other than complaining Ryobi puts the small capacity battery with the tool and then charges out the wazoo for the larger capacity replacements. But then that's a common marketing strategy with most cordless tool manufacturers.
However, the Ryobi 40-volt stuff has been anything but reliable. I should just cut my losses and go with another brand there.
Just asking, since Ryobi has a 40-volt battery which weighs about the same as their highest capacity 18-volt, and the trend of cordless tools has been to continually increase the voltage, from 6 to 9 to 12 to 18-volt, why aren't they offering 40-volt hand tools?
jack vines
^ I can see the benefit for certain hand tools, but it seems outweighed by the benefit in not having to own different voltage packs that aren't compatible with all hand tools. That compatibility was one of the reasons I have a Ryobi set, though 'set' meaning built piece by piece.
They could pull a Dewalt and put a series/parallel circuit in so the same pack could work from both 40V and 18V, but it adds cost to Dewalt's already more expensive batteries when the Ryobi proposition is prosumer grade value offerings that all take the same battery format.
Home Depot regularly has a store display with a two pack of 4Ah for something like $80-$90. I have never bought a Ryobi tool that came with smaller capacity than that, instead buy their bare tools except for the first one that came with the P118 charger and 4Ah battery.
Anyway I just don't see the need for more power for my uses. Any hand tool that needs 40V or more, would have short runtime off a single series of 10 cells to get there or with a paralleled series to reach 40V, that's a pretty big and heavy battery for a hand tool. There are tasks where it would be helpful but Ryobi is not really targeted at these pro/contractor uses.
Along the same line of thought, I often question if it is a good idea for any brand to make their 12V compact tools instead of just using 14500 cells to make a small, light pack that's in the same 18V/20V compatible format. Granted 18650 has higher capacity density than 14500.
They could pull a Dewalt and put a series/parallel circuit in so the same pack could work from both 40V and 18V, but it adds cost to Dewalt's already more expensive batteries when the Ryobi proposition is prosumer grade value offerings that all take the same battery format.
Home Depot regularly has a store display with a two pack of 4Ah for something like $80-$90. I have never bought a Ryobi tool that came with smaller capacity than that, instead buy their bare tools except for the first one that came with the P118 charger and 4Ah battery.
Anyway I just don't see the need for more power for my uses. Any hand tool that needs 40V or more, would have short runtime off a single series of 10 cells to get there or with a paralleled series to reach 40V, that's a pretty big and heavy battery for a hand tool. There are tasks where it would be helpful but Ryobi is not really targeted at these pro/contractor uses.
Along the same line of thought, I often question if it is a good idea for any brand to make their 12V compact tools instead of just using 14500 cells to make a small, light pack that's in the same 18V/20V compatible format. Granted 18650 has higher capacity density than 14500.
Packard V8
Well-known member
I've got a couple of Ryobi +1 Lithium 18-volts which came with the P102 battery which has no Ah rating on it, only 24Wh, but from the size, they're no more than 2Ah.
jack vines
^ 24Wh should be:
24Wh / (3.6V * 5 cells) = 1.3Ah cells
The 4Ah packs have 10 x 2Ah cells.
They do have 5 x cell packs with 3Ah cells now which are near the same size as the 24Wh packs but a bit bigger for more heat dissipation. They're also capable of more current than prior 5 x cell packs, with two additional electrical contacts for some of their newer tools that can use them, but I tend to gravitate towards the 4Ah from a price:capacity standpoint or would go upwards from there to 6Ah for high drain tools, to still get 10 cells as 2 x parallel arrays of (5) cells for more current capability.
Their lowest end drills or the little (1.5W?) P705 LED flashlight, I wouldn't mind a 2Ah pack for those especially to save weight if working overhead all day with the drill, but otherwise, I'd just as soon get the bare tool and not pay any money for their smallest capacity batteries.
24Wh / (3.6V * 5 cells) = 1.3Ah cells
The 4Ah packs have 10 x 2Ah cells.
They do have 5 x cell packs with 3Ah cells now which are near the same size as the 24Wh packs but a bit bigger for more heat dissipation. They're also capable of more current than prior 5 x cell packs, with two additional electrical contacts for some of their newer tools that can use them, but I tend to gravitate towards the 4Ah from a price:capacity standpoint or would go upwards from there to 6Ah for high drain tools, to still get 10 cells as 2 x parallel arrays of (5) cells for more current capability.
Their lowest end drills or the little (1.5W?) P705 LED flashlight, I wouldn't mind a 2Ah pack for those especially to save weight if working overhead all day with the drill, but otherwise, I'd just as soon get the bare tool and not pay any money for their smallest capacity batteries.
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